Tag: yoga

Working Out Week 38 of 2014

September 20, 2014 kimberlee

It is September 20th already. I don’t know where the time goes but it seems to be flying by this month. My workouts this past week were:

Monday – T-25 Total Body Circuit + 2 Ab Moves on Ball – 28 min.
Tuesday – off/ Rode bike to store for groceries
Wednesday – Cathe CrossFire dvd – fitness blast & firewalker premix + 2 Ab Moves – 29 min.
Thursday – Shiva Rea Daily Energy – Solar Meditation & Chakra Namaskar sequence + 2 Ab Moves – 27 min.
Friday – T-25 Ab Intervals + Yoga Breathe For Joy Sequence from Yoga Journal magazine + 2 Ab Moves – 45 min.
Saturday – Shiva Rea Daily Energy – Heart-Air sequence + Core + 2 Ab Moves – 28 min.

For the next twelve weeks I will be taking Tuesday’s off or just doing a bike ride or light yoga in the evening that day. The reason being is that I am doing a group Bible Study at our church and it meets on Tuesday mornings – I don’t think I want to show up at that all sweaty and in workout clothes. I also don’t want to get up any earlier than I already do, 6:00 am, so I have decided that I am okay with taking that day off and just working out 5 days a week for the next few months.

Monday I did T-25 Total Body Circuit. I remember this one as being a tough workout and it still is for me. Lots of cardio and lots of planks and push ups in this workout. Tons of sweat at the end.

Look who was waiting to workout among the workout bands on Wednesday – my faithful workout friend. He sat there on and off during the workout.

The above photos are part of the Cathe CrossFire workout. I was able to catch some of the jump turn squat sequence in my photos. This is where you start out facing forward and then have to jump and turn 180 degrees to face the back into a squat and then repeat – many times. I really like the CrossFire workout. It is a total body workout. On this particular day I got up about 10 minutes later than normal so I only did one of the premixes that is about 27 minutes long instead of the whole entire workout that I think is over 50 minutes long. That is one thing I love about her dvd’s – lots of premixes so you don’t feel like you have to do a whole hour long if you don’t have the time.

The yoga dvd I used this week on Thursday and Saturday was the same one – Daily Energy from Shiva Rea. This dvd is set up with many different 20 minute yoga sequences that you can pick to do and also some core work, forward bend and some meditation segments to add on to one of the 20 minute ones. I really like this dvd and I love yoga days!

I am trying to continue with my weekly two ab moves after each of my daily workouts. This week I decided to use my exercise ball and do the two exercises with that – the cat approved.

I also watched this documentary dvd that I checked out from the library. I had seen the guy, Joe Cross, who made the movie on Dr. Oz a while back and I also had heard of the dvd. It was a really good and interesting documentary on his journey with following a strict juice cleanse to help himself lose weight and to get his health back as he had a debilitating condition that was causing him to have to be on quite a few medications. After watching this dvd I learned the following day that a sequel to this one was just released this week so there is now a Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead part 2.

The documentary really impressed me as to how juicing can really help you become and be a lot healthier. I had been thinking of getting a juicer a while back but decided not to since I had my Ninja blender. Well, after learning more about the benefits of juicing I decided to buy a juicer. I got a Breville one like the one in the dvd, I think. I had a 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond so I used it to buy one. I am impressed with how well it juices fruits and vegetables and how easy it is to clean. There are kind of a lot of pieces but they clean up pretty fast.

So far I have made three different kinds of juices since Friday evening. I am amazed already at how I am feeling and how the juices seem to really fill you up, give you energy and make you less hungry. I was not having any hunger or snack attacks at the normal times I usually do – like around 4 pm. I am not sure I will do a full Juice only cleanse like many people do for a certain amount of time but I am considering doing a partial diet of juices for a few days – like for breakfast, snacks and lunch and then eat a sensible dinner with my family.

Weekly Fitness Tip: Don’t compare yourself to others

– Focus on your goals and realistic exercise programs and time frames not on what others are doing

– Fitness is a journey, not a race. It is okay to start out or go slowly, just do something and don’t give up

I hope everyone had a great week and you are getting a chance to workout and cook some healthy meals.

-Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health

Tags: cardio workouts, exercise, fit tips, fitness, fitness tips, working out, workout routine, workouts, yoga

Working Out Week 37 of 2014

September 13, 2014 kimberlee

The 37th week of 2014 is just about over and we are about halfway through the month of September already! One year ago today I was attending the all day ShaunTervention conference here in Dallas, TX. What a great event that was and I am so glad I made the decision to go – even though it was kind of outside my comfort zone. I typically do not do workouts in public or in any type of group settings – I have always been a workout at home person. I also met some really nice people at that event along with Shaun T and the people in his vidoes, like T-25.

The workouts I did this week were:

Monday – T-25 Alpha Cardio + 2 Abdominal Moves – 28 min
Tuesday – Shiva Rea Creative Core Abs + 2 Ab Moves – 37 min
Wednesday – T-25 Core Speed + 2 Ab Moves – 28 min
Thursday – Shiva Rea Creative Core Lower Body + 2 Ab Moves – 25 min
Friday – T-25 Speed 1.0 + Yoga practice from Yoga Journal Magazine – 48 min
Saturday – Yoga – Shine On practice from Yoga Journal Magazine – 20 min

The above two photos are of the two abdominal moves I chose to do this week. They are yoga based moves that you hold for a count of 5 to 8 breaths versus doing lots of reps. I did pretty well getting them done every day except for Friday and Saturday, I forgot to add them in those two days. As you can see my friendly workout partner, the cat, approves of the moves.

I continued to do my T 25 workout dvd’s this week but varied the workouts I used. This week on Monday I did Alpha Cardio, again, then on Wednesday I did Core Speed. This is one of my favorites. It is really fast paced and there are some tough moves but I love it. You sweat a ton and feel like you have gotten an awesome workout when the 25 minutes are over. Photo above is of the one handed burpees that you do multiple times.

Speed 1.0 was another T 25 workout that I did on Friday. This one is cardio with each cardio move followed by a welcomed stretch. I had forgotten how I like this workout. It is another great sweat session with lots of stretching in between.

I also stayed with the schedule of doing my Shiva Rea yoga dvd’s on the non cardio days. The Creative Core Abs is great for your whole core.

The other Shiva workout I did was the Creative Core for the Lower Body. The cat of course joined me for part of this workout.

I made some homemade cashew butter this past week. After seeing how simple it is to make almond butter I decided that cashew couldn’t be that different or hard to make. For this I just heated about 1 1/2 cups of cashews in the microwave for 2 minutes. I then put them in the food processor and processed them for about 2 minutes – stopped the processing and then added 2 Tbls coconut oil and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and processed for about 2 or 3 more minutes. This stuff is really good – not quite as creamy as the Jif kind I have bought in the past but I really like it and the flavor it has.

Fit Tip of the Week: Simple daily exercise results in overall better health.

-Discipline yourself to get at least 20 minutes or more of some type of physical exercise every day

-People who stick with a daily exercise regime are more healthy and positive

-Daily exercise may not always be exciting or fun but the simple task of sticking with a routine is worth the positive results

Next week I will be continuing to do some T 25 and yoga- I may also throw in a Cathe video in the middle of the week. I hope everyone is planning to do some type of physical exercise in the week ahead.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Food

Tags: cashew butter, exercise, fitness, making cashew butter, T-25, weekly workout, working out, workout routine, yoga

Working Out Week 36 of 2014

September 6, 2014 kimberlee 10 Comments

This week was kind of short since there was the Labor Day holiday. I kept thinking Tuesday was Monday and Wednesday was Tuesday. Therefore when Friday got here I was wondering how the week went by so fast.

For week 36 I decided to pull out my T-25 workouts and alternate those with yoga. So my schedule was one day cardio and the next day yoga. This was similar to last weeks schedule but I used different workouts. I really liked my schedule this week and the workouts I chose.

Monday – T-25 Alpha Cardio + 2 Ab Moves – 28 min.
Tuesday – Shiva Rea Yoga – AM Energy dvd – bonus segment Heart Salutation from Radiant Heart + 2 Ab Moves – 22 min.
Wednesday – T-25 Ab Intervals + 2 Ab Moves – 28 min.
Thursday – Shiva Rea Yoga – AM Energy dvd Shakti Flow + 2 Ab Moves – 22 min.
Friday – T-25 Lower Focus + Find Instant Calm Yoga workout + 2 Ab Moves – 50 min.
Saturday – Ride Bike + yoga + 2 Ab Moves – 35 min.

The cat and I have missed Shaun T and his T-25 workout. I forgot how much you can sweat in just 25 minutes! I did the entire workout last year from August to October – the whole 10 week schedule with my facebook fitness group. Most of it is written about in my past blog posts. I also attended Shauntervention here in Dallas last year around this time. It was an awesome all day event where I got to meet Shaun T and learn more about him and his positive motivation.

Tuesday we (the cat and I) did the Shiva Rea AM Energy dvd that I own. This one contains three different 20 minute segments plus one bonus 20 minute segment from the Radiant Heart dvd. We did the bonus Heart Salutation and it felt awesome after the fast paced cardio the day before. I love the Shiva Rea style yoga and have many of her dvd’s. I guess the cat missed doing her yoga too as he was around on and off my mat for most of the workout.

Ab Intervals was the second T 25 workout of the week. This one is a combination of floor abdominal work and then some cardio in between. A great session for the abs and the back to strengthen the whole core.

The photos above are from my second session of Shiva Rea’s AM Energy dvd. This time I did the Shakti Flow session. This one has a free flow yoga dance at the beginning and then goes into the yoga poses. Another great workout the day after T 25 and my lower abs were really feeling it after Ab Intervals the day before and the core work in this yoga workout.

Friday I did T 25 Lower Focus, a combination of leg cardio and toning moves. Another sweaty workout session. After this I did a 20 minute yoga workout from a Yoga Journal magazine called Find Instant Calm. This was a good way to stretch out and “calm” down after the cardio.

The entire week I also included these two abdominal moves at the end of my workouts. You can see the cat liked those as well. I found these two moves from a popsugar video last week and decided to make it a goal to do 20 reps of each every day this past week. I almost forgot to do them yesterday but got them in – even though it was a couple hours after my finished workout.

Last Saturday I made some really good sourdough bread using some starter I made earlier in the week. My oldest son has discovered he likes sourdough bread for sandwiches so I decided to make the dough in my bread machine and then bake the oval shaped loaves in the oven. It made two loaves so I was able to freeze one. Everyone has decided (all 5 of us) that the bread is really good. I will be making it again in the near future.

Weekly Fitness Tip: Endurance, Discipline, Determination – Keys to Daily Success

Starting an exercise program and then sticking with it are one of the keys to becoming more fit and healthy – Endurance
Getting your workout in regularly is not always easy or enjoyable but the end results are worth it – Discipline yourself to Just Do It and you will be glad you did
Remember that exercise daily repeated over time will get you results – Determination

-I think that once you begin a regular exercise regime and stick with it that it becomes part of who you are and what you do. There are days I wake up and feel tired (didn’t sleep well) or just not very motivated to do my scheduled workout – but I choose to get up, get going, and get it done – which makes me feel so much better afterwards.

I hope everyone had a great week. The weather here is still hot so I am not sure about getting ready for fall yet but it looks like I need to start thinking about it. I have started stocking up on cans of pumpkin to try some of the new recipes I recently found on pinterest. I also need to make a new fall wreath so I will probably work on that later this coming week.

Take care,

Kimberlee

Categories: Baking Exercise Food Health

Tags: baking bread, baking sourdough bread, exercise program, exercise routine, fitness, fitness motivation, fitness tips, T 25 workouts, working out, workouts, yoga

Working Out Week 30 of 2014

July 26, 2014 kimberlee

The last full week of July has past – week 30 of the year. It has gotten really hot here in Texas in the past week or two. My workouts this week are below:

Monday – Cathe LIS – Total Body Trisets – Chest, Shoulders and Tri’s – 31 min.
Tuesday – Ride Bike + Yoga – 40 min.
Wednesday – Cathe LIS – Turbo Barre – 40 min.
Thursday – Ride Bike + Yoga – 35 min.
Friday – Cathe LIS – Total Body Trisets – Back, Bi’s and Core – 34 min.
Saturday – Ride Bike + Yoga – 33 min.

This past week instead of doing cardio dvd’s I decided to do some weights for the upper body and also my Turbo Barre workout on Wednesday.

The weight training workout I used this week was the same one, from the Cathe Low Impact Series called Total Body Trisets. The workout is actually a total body workout but I chose to just do the upper body portion of this workout on Monday and again on Friday. This workout uses some heavier weights like 10 and 15 pound dumbbells and the exercise ball with some of the sets. The workout consists of 3 exercises per grouping that you repeat two times before moving on to the next set. It felt good to do some heavier weights this past week.

The cat joined me again on Wednesday for the Turbo Barre workout. (see him on the chair) This is our third Wednesday in a row of doing this workout. I did the muscle conditioning portion with the lighter 5 pound dumbbells and then on to the floorwork and then the ab work. I love the fun and challenging ab moves in this workout. You can see some of them in the photos above.

On the days I was not using my dvd’s I rode my bike through the neighborhood. I got bored with my old route so I changed it up a bit this week. I would then come back home and do my yoga outside on the patio – it feels good to do the yoga after a bike ride.

The ball exchange move is one of my favorite ab-core exercises and I did plenty of them on Friday with the Total Body Trisets dvd. This move is where you place the ball between your lower legs, lower them down while lowering your upper body with the arms stretched overhead, then raise both your legs (while holding the ball) and your arms back up and grab the ball with your hands and lower your legs and your hands (now holding the ball) back toward the floor – you don’t actually touch the floor with your legs and arms though. When you do about 25 or 30 of these for two rounds you really feel it.

What is one of your favorite exercise moves that you did this past week or recently – or maybe a favorite new workout? Click on Leave a Reply to tell me about it.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: barre workout, exercising, fitness, weight training workout, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga

Working Out Week 29 of 2014

July 19, 2014 kimberlee 7 Comments

This past week seemed to go by so fast! I can not believe we are more than halfway through the month of July! It has also cooled down here in Texas quite a bit the last couple of days and we got some much needed rain all day on Thursday. July is normally really hot so it is strange to be in the low 80’s for the high temperature of the day.

This week my workouts were as follows:

Sunday – Walk + Swimming – 45 minutes
Monday – Cathe Xtrain; All Out Low Impact Hiit, Step & Disc Cardio – 25 minutes
Tuesday – Ride Bike + Yoga outdoors on patio – 32 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe LIS; Turbo Barre, Upper-Lower Muscle Endurance, Legs with Band, Planks & Abs segments – 50 minutes
Thursday – ~~Walking~~ + Yoga – 20 minutes
Friday – Cathe Xtrain; Supercuts – 46 minutes
Saturday – Ride Bike + Yoga outdoors on patio – 32 minutes

Normally I take Sunday’s off but this past Sunday I decided to go for a late morning walk and in the afternoon I swam some laps in our pool. It was really hot that day and a great day to go swimming.

I decided to do some Cathe Friedrich Xtrain dvd’s this week. This dvd series is a couple of years old. There are some great cardio and weight routines in this series.

All Out Low Impact Hiit workout

Monday I did All Out Low Impact Hiit. I only did a 25 minute premix of the step and disc cardio that day as I was having some issues with a pesky sinus headache that came on Sunday evening and carried over into Monday. I was determined not to let it interfere with my workout schedule though. My cat showed up at the end for the stretch – apparently he wasn’t into working out that day either.

Wednesday I did the Low Impact Series from Cathe Friedrich – the Turbo Barre workout again. I am going to try and keep including this in my schedule once a week as I really like this workout even though its kind of long. It really seems to lengthen your whole body and strengthen and tone everything. This week I did a couple of the segments of the workout that I didn’t do last week. As you see the cat really likes this workout – he began it by standing on the floor behind the chair and jumping up over the back to get to the seat. Then he continued to jump around and chase his tail for a while. I guess that was his workout for the day.

I am also continuing to enjoy the warmer weather and ride my bike or walk in the mornings. This past week on Thursday I was going to walk again but it rained – thankfully as we really needed it. So, I decided to get out an old workout that I bought years ago. It is the Caribbean Workout Yoga For the Core. The show used to be on Fit TV and they also put out dvd’s. I think I got this on sale at Walmart. The dvd has three 20 minute segments on it. Both of my cats joined me that day for some yoga.

The other Xtrain workout I did was called Supercuts. I did the entire dvd which is 46 minutes long. It is a fun, fast paced and challenging workout that has cardio, weights and lots of core exercises. There are also several exercise that use the band with handles that are really great for the upper body and the core.

I made more granola this week since my one son ate most of the first batch I made last week. You can look at my workout post from week 28 to get the link to the granola recipe.

I also read a post last week on another blog I follow called the 100lb Countdown. The post was on smoothies and it gave me an idea to create this smoothie with carrots, orange juice and a nectarine.

I guess this smoothie came out more like a drink but I thought it had an interesting and pleasant taste. To make this you will need the following ingredients:

handful baby carrots
1 nectarine, cut up, pit removed, skin left on
2 spoonfuls plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water – more if needed
1/2 cup crushed ice

Place all of the above ingredients in a high powered blender like a ninja blender and pulse a few times then blend for about 1 to 2 min. on speed 8. You could also add a little honey if you wanted it a bit sweeter.

I have found that I like nectarines in my smoothies and have used them in a couple of my green smoothies as well. I recently read in a book I got from the library called The Juicing Diet that nectarines are good for detoxing, heart and bone health and for your skin.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health Recipes

Tags: at home workouts, exercise, fit mom, fitness, health, smoothie, Smoothie Recipe, working out, workout routine, yoga

Working Out Week 27 of 2014

July 5, 2014 kimberlee

Well, this past week I got in a minimal amount of workouts compared to my normal schedule. The reason being one; ceilings still being redone the beginning of the week, and two; I came down with some type of respiratory virus as of last Sunday and was not feeling too great.

The workouts I managed to get in were:

Monday – Ride Bike 2 miles to store and yoga in the evening – 30 minutes
Tuesday – no workout
Wednesday – Ride Bike + yoga-stretching – 30 minutes
Thursday – Yoga – 15 minutes
Friday – ~~Ride Bike~~ couldn’t ride bike as planned – felt terrible!
Saturday – Yoga – 20 minutes

Monday and Tuesday they were still working on our ceilings but I did feel okay enough on Monday to ride my bike to the store and do a little yoga in the evening in our bedroom (living room was still a mess with plastic).

Wednesday I actually thought I was feeling better – rode my bike in the early morning and did a little yoga-stretch when I got back from that. Then, I got busy with the task of getting my house back together since they were done with the ceilings. I washed walls, counters and baseboards of dust. I then got out the carpet cleaner and cleaned the dining room and living room carpets. They had covered them but I just wanted everything really clean after all the work they did. The ceilings look so much better and nice and clean – see photo of before and after below.

I also had laundry to catch up on since they worked in the laundry room, and I couldn’t do laundry while they were working, so I did about four loads on Wednesday. Well, I guess I over did it Wednesday and relapsed into this virus – or it just hadn’t shown it’s full ugly self yet. I did not feel very good Thursday and even worse on Friday, the 4th of July. I rested a lot on Friday and feel somewhat better today. I managed to wake up and felt like doing a little yoga. Between the house being under construction of sorts and my virus I feel like I have lost a week of time. Even my husband commented on how disruptive the ceiling remodel had been. We would like to do the upper level of our house – our bedrooms – but I don’t know if I can go through another week of displacement and mess again.

I will say again though how much better our ceilings look and even my kids commented on how it seems like the ceilings look higher with that popcorn texture gone. I am enjoying looking up in my living room when I am on the floor working out and seeing the popcorn removed and the brighter, freshly painted ceiling. Below is the photo of my living room ceiling aka my workout room in the mornings.

I am hoping to start my week off next week with a workout schedule of alternating cardio one day and yoga the next. I think if I take it easy today and tomorrow I will feel like myself again and hopefully be over this virus. So far no one else in my family has gotten it and I hope it stays that way.

I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health

Tags: ceiling remodel, exercise, fitness, home improvement, workout schedule, yoga

Working Out Week 25 of 2014

June 21, 2014 kimberlee 2 Comments

This past week my workouts were a mixture of biking, cardio and yoga. It seems like every summer I tend to do more outdoor activities like biking and swimming as it gets warmer and I also like to alternate with some yoga.

Schedule this past week:

Monday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine – 33 minutes
Tuesday – Yoga – Yoga Life Magazine Core Curriculum routine – 20 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe To The Max dvd, Less Impact Premix – 39 minutes
Thursday – P90X3 – Isometrix – 30 minutes
Friday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine – 33 minutes
Saturday – Yoga Life + Yoga Journal Magazine routines – 25 minutes

Every other day was yoga this past week. The yoga routines were a mixture of magazine routines and my P90X3 Isometrix dvd, which is one of my favorite dvd’s in the X3 series. I had not used this dvd in about three months and forgot how challenging it is – you hold each pose for 45 seconds.

The other yoga routines I did were from a Prevention magazine called Yoga Life that I bought back in 2010 from Sams, I believe. There are some really good yoga routines in this magazine so I have kept it and pull it out from time to time to use it. I also used a Yoga Journal magazine this past week that I checked out from the library. I took my kids there earlier in the week to check out books for their summer reading and I also checked out a couple of Yoga Journal magazines.

My cardio dvd this week was Cathe Friedrich’s To The Max. I did a 39 minute premix that was a little less impact but still very challenging and gave me a great workout. This workout uses the step for parts of the workout and it seems my cat loves to hang out on the step when I am not using it as seen in the photo below. The core with upper body weights session of this workout is tough and one of my favorite parts of this dvd.

I also rode my bike again a couple of mornings this past week on my neighborhood route. I really like being out early and riding in the fresh morning air. After my riding I usually come in and do some light stretching and some core work with my stability ball.

This coming week I will only be working out for a few days of the week and not my usual six days. We are having some work done to our house and will have people here working for a few days. There is also a possibility that I will not be able to do my post next week if they are still here finishing the work on Saturday – we’ll see.

I hope everyone had a great week and you are enjoying warmer weather and some outdoor activities and workouts.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: Cathe workouts, exercise, exercise schedule, exercising, fitness, isometrix, working out, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga, yoga routines

Working Out Week 23 of 2014

June 7, 2014 kimberlee

Wow – the first week of June has already gone by. This past week was also the last week of school for my kids and now they are on their summer vacation. I am looking forward to having a less hectic schedule with them being out of school for a while. I also try and do a little more variety in my summer workout schedule, more outdoor activities like biking and swimming. This past week I began my outdoor workout activities by adding in some biking and outdoor yoga.

Monday 6-2 – Amy Bento Ross Body Box dvd Short & Sweaty premix – 50 min
Tuesday 6-3 – Ride Bike – 22 min + Exercise-Medicine ball magazine routine – 15 min
Wednesday 6-4 – 21 Day Yoga Challenge Magazine routine – Go With the Flow – 20 min
Thursday 6-5 – Amy Bento Ross – Body Box dvd All Cardio premix – 52 min
Friday 6-6 – Ride Bike – 22 min + magazine routine – 15 min
Saturday 6-7 – 21 Day Yoga Challenge Magazine routine – Sitting Pretty routine – 20 min

This past week I did a routine of cardio, biking + toning exercises, and yoga. I really liked this schedule as it was a change from my normal dvd routine or doing an exercise book. I also took it outdoors with the biking and I even did my two days of yoga out on my back patio at 6:45 am. It was nice and peaceful outside in the early morning and a great way to begin my day.

I did use one dvd this week. It is actually a new dvd that I bought about six weeks ago and had not done it yet. It got pushed aside when I decided to do the Betty Rocker Spring Challenge in May. The dvd is called Body Box by Amy Bento Ross. I have a couple of her older kickboxing and weight training dvd’s and thought I would enjoy this one, too. So far after using it twice this week I am not sure if I like it as well as I like her older Kickbox Xtreme dvd. It is a good overall cardio workout but some of the routines are kind of hard to keep up with for me. There are intervals that can be done between kickboxing combos and I really like those intervals – they are body weight type of exercises. Overall it is a good workout but I think you need to have kickboxing experience to keep up – I do but it is still not easy to get all the combos down the first time. I guess that is true for a lot of new advanced type of workout dvd’s though. I usually have to do them a few times to figure out all the moves.

I really enjoyed riding my bike a couple of times this past week on my neighborhood route that I do. I wore my sport watch and set the stopwatch and it takes me about 22 to 23 minutes to do the route – I am not sure how far it is. I try and ride at least half of it in my hardest gear which is 3 since I have a 3 speed bike. When I got home from the ride I would do a routine from my binder of fitness routines I have ripped out of magazines I have subscribed to over the last 10 years. I have them organized in a 3-ring binder and divided with tabs as to the type of workouts. I have not used them in a while and got a couple of them out this past week. One of them was with an exercise ball, a medicine ball plus weights and the other was total body toning with 8 and 5 pound weights.

As you can see my workout buddy was present for the exercise ball routine. When not exercising he likes to sit on the exercise mat bag as seen in the other photo.

I also made a couple of more salads this week with some green leaf and romaine lettuce I grew in our little garden out back. This is only the second time I have tried to grow lettuce and the first time at actually being successful at it. The first time a lot of bugs got to it before we did so we didn’t get very much. It is really nice to be able to go out back and pick some lettuce for a salad to go with dinner.

This past week I also preordered the new Cathe Friedrich dvd’s that are to be released in the fall. The new series is called Ripped with Hiit. All of the workouts are high intensity interval training and if you preorder you get free shipping, too. You can read more about it on her site Cathe.com if you are interested. I have used her workouts for years and they are all great and worth the money.

I hope everyone had a great week! Let me know what your workout plans are for the week coming up by clicking on Leave a Reply.

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Food

Tags: exercising, fitness, kickboxing, outdoor workout, workout cat, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga

Working Out Week 20 of 2014

May 18, 2014 kimberlee 9 Comments

Well, I usually try and get my weekly workout post done on Saturday. I am a day late this week because of a pipe fiasco that occurred yesterday at our house. We had a little gardening to do out front of our house and I went out there around noon to help my husband till up the front flower beds and add in some new dirt. I figured this would take a couple of hours and then I would come in and do my blog post. Well, I was out there for about six hours instead. You see – right after I got out there my husband was digging and chopping through some roots from our big Magnolia tree that he thought were causing our front walkway to crack (which they are). In the process of doing this he hit a pipe that goes to our outdoor sprinkler system and it cracked and started shooting water everywhere. So, off goes the water for many hours and lots of digging and trips to Home Depot (like 3 or 4) to fix this problem.

Thankfully my husband is handy and can figure these things out and fix them himself – although I am sure that is not how he planned to spend the entire Saturday afternoon. There was a point in time, around the third trip and at about 4pm, that he said he may have to call someone – but with some more hard work, a few prayers from me and another trip to the Home Depot he got it repaired and our water was back on. I was able to finish the garden work while he dealt with the problem and made multiple trips to the store. We have a rain barrel and I was able to use water from that to get my flowers planted.

So, now on to the workouts I did the past week. I am still doing the Betty Rocker Challenge and it was week 2 and the beginning of week 3 workouts. In addition to those I decided to do a dvd free week and use one of my workout books instead. On the days I was not doing the Betty Rocker exercises I did my Flat Belly Yoga book routine. Below is my schedule for the week:

Monday 5-12 – Betty Rocker challenge wk 2 exercises + foam roller stretches – 40 min
Tuesday 5-13 – Flat Belly Yoga book – 20 min
Wednesday 5-14 – Betty Rocker challenge wk 2 exercises + foam roller stretches – 40 min
Thursday 5-15 – Flat Belly Yoga book – 20 min
Friday 5-16 – Betty Rocker challenge wk 3 exercises + foam roller stretches – 40 min
Saturday 5-17 – Flat Belly Yoga book – 15 min

I really like the Flat Belly Yoga book by Kimberly Fowler. So does my cat as you can see. He is all dressed up in a scarf my sons have decided he needs to wear – I don’t think he really likes it that well but puts up with it. This book is an excellent book, in my opinion. I got it back in the fall of 2013 and used it for a while then. I decided this week to get it out again. All of the routines concentrate on the core and most of the exercises use light hand weights of 2 or 3 pounds. The exercises are great for strengthening your stomach and back and really lengthen your whole body. All the exercises are explained well and it is an all color photo book with multiple photos of how to do one particular move. I like books like that.

Betty Rocker week 2 and the beginning of week 3 challenge was a “challenge” for sure! There is this skinny sumo move in week 2 that I could hardly get through all of those for one minute. One minute of doing one particular move does not sound hard until you actually try it. I really like how this challenge is all body weight exercises and requires no equipment. I like using my weights, step and other things but sometimes it is a nice change of pace to not have a lot of things to lug out and put away.

I also tried a new healthy muffin recipe this week from Pink Recipe Box. The recipe is for Healthy Double Chocolate Oat Bran Muffins. They were really good – made with oat bran and some whole wheat flour so they have lots of fiber. My oldest son liked them, too. I also took my friend Karen one when we met on Friday at Starbucks to knit and have coffee and she liked them as well. I will probably make them again this week. You can click on the highlighted link and it will take you to the recipe for them.

I hope everyone had a great week and you are able to get in some fitness time for yourself. I would love to hear about your workouts – you can click on Leave a Reply and tell me about them.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Baking Exercise

Tags: Betty Rocker Challenge, betty rocker spring challenge, exercise, fitness, healthy muffins, muffins, working out, workouts, yoga, yoga book, yoga cat

Working Out Week 19 of 2014

May 10, 2014 kimberlee 11 Comments

The past week my workouts were a little different than previous weeks. I mentioned last week that I decided to do the Betty Rocker Make Fat Cry Spring Challenge so instead of doing all workout dvd’s like I normally do I did three days of the Betty Rocker workouts. The challenge is running from a Thursday to Thursday so I did two days of week 1 workouts and one day of week 2. My schedule for the past week is below:

Sunday 5-4 – rode bike around neighborhood – 15-20 minutes
Monday 5-5 – Betty Rocker wk 1 workout + foam roller stretch – 35 to 40 minutes
Tuesday 5-6 – Shiva Rea AM Daily Energy Yoga dvd bonus Radiant Heart sequence – 20 minutes + rode bike to store for groceries approx. 2 miles
Wednesday 5-7 – Betty Rocker wk 1 workout + foam roller stretch – 35 to 40 minutes
Thursday 5-8 – Shiva Rea – More Daily Energy dvd Evolution Heart Flow sequence – 20 minutes
Friday 5-9 – Betty Rocker wk 2 workout + slide and glide disc stretch – 35 minutes
Saturday 5-10 – Shiva Rea Creative Core Abs – water and spontaneous core sequence – 18 minutes

Last Saturday I was getting my sons’ bikes out and putting air in their tires and decided it was time to start riding my bike again and use it to go to the store to get some groceries. I usually try and do this every Spring and Summer as it is a great way to get some exercise and be outdoors and it saves on gas, too. There is a Walmart that I ride to that is about a mile away and they have a bike rack for me to lock my bike up. I really enjoy riding to the store. It also kind of limits what you can buy so you only buy what is necessary and not all those extra things that tend to catch your eye. I can usually get three bags of groceries – large bags that I made myself from fabric – on my bike.

The Betty Rocker Challenge was a pretty good “challenge” this past week. All the exercises are body weight exercises. There are 7 exercises that you do for one minute each and repeat them three times. I definitely worked up a sweat every day I did those exercises. My faithful workout friend was usually present to supervise me (my cat).

Week 2 of the Betty Rocker challenge began for me on Friday. The exercises were similar to last weeks but with some add ons to make them more challenging. They were definitely more challenging for me. Especially this one called skinny sumos – by the third round on those I had to slow down to make it through.

Quote from the Betty Rocker Challenge: “Fit is not a destination – it is a way of life.” I really like this quote as that is how I look at fitness – as part of my daily routine so therefore it is a part of my life.

After a couple of the Betty Rocker workouts I did a foam roller stretch routine. I mentioned a month or two ago that I had gotten one of these. I really like it for lengthening and stretching out the muscles after a workout or even just in the evening while I watch a TV show. The quad stretch in the upper left photo is great and I also really like the upper back roll out in the upper right corner photo. The middle photo is a glute stretch – another good one.

The yoga workouts I chose to do were really good ones. I didn’t realize it until after I did the Thursday session that both the Tuesday and Thursday routines were “heart” related sequences. On Tuesday is was the AM Energy Radiant Heart which is actually a bonus on this dvd as it is from the Radiant Heart dvd (one I do not own). Thursday the session from the More Daily Energy dvd was called Evolution Heart Flow. Both of these routines had some great heart opening poses and some good hip openers, too.

I made a new smoothie this past week that I just kind of threw together in my Ninja blender. It was really good in my opinion. It is made with rhubarb and strawberries.

To make this smoothie you will need:

1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen rhubarb
1/2 cup frozen or fresh strawberries
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1Tbls Spectrum ground flaxseed with mixed berries Omega-3 & Super Fruits

Place all the above ingredients in a high speed blender and blend 1 or 2 minutes until smooth. If you use both frozen rhubarb and strawberries this is almost like a strawberry milkshake.

I really like how this smoothie tasted. It wasn’t too sweet and I love having the rhubarb in it. I guess if you wanted to sweeten it a little more you could add a spoonful of honey or agave to it.

Rhubarb is really good for your digestive system as well as keeping your skin from premature aging. It is a good source of vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, potassium, oxalic acid and fiber. I have been buying it frozen from Kroger. It is one of the few places I was able to find it last summer.

Let me know how your workouts are going by clicking on Leave a Reply.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Recipes

Tags: Betty Rocker Challenge, bicycle, fitness, make fat cry challenge, rhubarb, Smoothie Recipe, smoothie with rhubarb and strawberries, working out, workouts, yoga